Gent, Eoghan, and Zodias have made it safely back to the Purple Cockatrice Pub, Garamond is about to embark on his infiltration mission, and Dorrance has a busy day... what challenges will push our heroes out of their comfort zones today?
Today's roster:
- Dorrance - A half-orc fighter with no qualms about using violence to solve every situation
- Eoghan - A half elven ranger whose wolf seems to phase in and out of existence
- Garamond - A human paladin of Utar, now in the servitude of the rebels known as The Materialists
- Gent - A human wizard who may some day prove himself to be useful and get our friends off this crazy plane
- Zodias - A manic salamander immolator who is falling in and out of love with the current inhabitants of this plane of fire
Earlier that day
While the rest of our heroes were out and about, getting tailed by everyone's best friend chaos, Dorrance was off wandering the city by himself. After a good long thigh massage from the priestesses of Nantosvetla, he found his way to some of the seedier taverns in the city and decided to make a bit of coin by taking part in some good wholesome underground ring fighting. A rather well to-do and drunk dwarf commissioned Dorrance to be his champion, fighting matches in the name of the man whose name he didn't even know. His first match against a female dwarven bouncer left her a bloody mess; his second match against a pack of house-gnomes left a few mild carbon scorch marks up his arms; and his third match saw him ripping a dryad limb from wooden limb. An impoverished wizard was seen fleeing the fight club with tears in his eyes as Dorrance's rage toward trees caused him to destroy, demolish, and thoroughly dismantle this magnificent magical creature.
As payment for such a fine show, Dorrance's benefactor granted him 100 coin for every match with a hefty 100 coin tip. He also insisted that Dorrance join him for dinner after he has had a chance to wash up a bit, and then left with his 2 hulking body guards through the quickly parting crowd of onlookers.
Later in the evening
After getting cleaned up, lost, found, and asking for directions more times than any fighter would ever care to admit, Dorrance appears to be nearing his benefactor's address: the gates to the castle upon the cliff overlooking all of Redrock. As he travels through this rather swanky area of town, he comes across Garamond, Rodrick, and Jim - who seem to be checking out the residence of Prelate Cephus. Garamond explains that they are there to acquire a magical MacGuffin for Vivec and the Materialists, and decides to try bluffing his way into the residence's garden with Jim.
Sadly, Garmond is only able to get himself and Jim into the gardens as far as the fountain when calling upon his divine authority to demand access. Dorrance strolls right up, shows the dismissive guards his invitation to the castle on the hill, and is quickly granted access to the garden with the chance of a meeting with the Prelate himself. As Dorrance and Rodrick enter the garden, Garamond is fretting about how to get into the house and search around for the magic item while somehow getting Jim to safety. His genius plan is to beg the guards at the house door to let the child inside to use the bathroom, however his argument would have been unconvincing even on the best of days.
Sensing an imminent need, though not quite sure for what, Dorrance feels as if his contents may have shifted. In fact, the mere suggestion of Jim needing to use the toilet has built up such an immense need in Dorrance's shorts that he rushes up to the door and threatens to shit in the fountain if he cannot use the facilities. Just as the first guard is returning to talk with the honored guest, he notices the horrible smell of a large fighter soiling himself. Dorrance rushes over to the consecrated fountain, drops trow, and proceeds to defile the pristine waters. The guards are caught entirely off-guard and react moments later, screaming "NO, NO NO NO! STOP!" and rushing the giant man. Garamond, Jim, and Rodrick are forgotten for a few moments and slip into the house as Dorrance is unceremoniously tossed out of the gardens.
Garamond and crew attempt to find the Prelate's office, where Rodrick is sure the relic must be kept, however the residence is quite small and locked doors and imminent guard searches pose a problem for the group. Upon heading upstairs and entering what had once been Seamus' room, Garamond confiscates a magical shield bearing the seal of Utar under the pretense that it does not belong in the practice of a twisted version of his faith. Further investigation of the upstairs hallway reveals Prelate Cephus himself, enjoying a nice quiet book in his bedroom.
Rodrick hints that a small stone pedestal and crystal sitting apart on the Prelate's night stand is likely some kind of magical contraption to open a door, Garamond sneaks into the room and places the crystal on the disc. After some odd chiming noises, the unmistakable sound of Felix's voice rings into the room and the Prelate looks back at Garamond with shock apparent on his face. Garamond is unable to convince the Prelate that he is there against his will, and takes aim to use his fire mitten on Rodrick to incapacitate the self-interested thug before the man is able to take this situation from bad to worse. Neatly blasting a hole in the wall and entirely missing Rodrick, Garamond gave Cephus enough time to utter a prayer for protection to Utar. The guards quickly arrive and take aim at the large, armored paladin with their sparkstone crossbows. Our hero pulls Jim in close and utilizes the magical shield to reflect the bolt, sadly with it piercing the Prelate's barrier and detonating in his leg - to devastating effect. Everyone's favorite street thug melts back out of the shadows and fires a small hand crossbow, planting a miniature bolt directly into Prelate Cephus's throat and dashing down a service stairwell and out of sight.
Garamond attempts to call upon his holy power multiple times to prevent Prelate Cephus from dying, and is able to at least stabilize the dwarf's mangled body. The guard's enter with a new strategy, squarely striking Garamond with a fireball in the chest and knocking him back to the wall and directly adjacent to the stairs. Sensing a momentary opening while the guards take in the state of the Prelate, Garamond grabs Jim and runs down the tight spiral staircase. Upon entering what appears to be the Prelate's office, he sees Rodrick fervently searching the desk and finally discovering a small box that seems quite important to him.
As Garamond shouts and charges at Rodrick, the vile man sneers and fires a sparkstone tipped bolt directly into Garamond's foot - destroying the armor in that area and severely burning the paladin's flesh. Failing all else, he calls upon his divine authority and demands that Rodrick set down the item and leave, causing the violent dwarf to fly into a rage. As Garamond attempts to trip up the ne'er do well with his thrown shield he clips the edge of the desk and the magic shield goes wide. Rodrick picks up a stone statue of Utar and bludgeons our hapless do-gooder in the head and out of consciousness. Moments later, Garamond comes to and sees that Rodrick is about to put an end to dear, traitorous Jim. Feeling compelled to save the child, Garamond grabs a letter opener off of the Prelate's desk and hurls it at Rodrick. The sharp shard of metal flies true, as if guided by some divine force, and embeds itself deeply into Rodrick's neck and rendering him lifeless. Jim jumps up as his assailant slumps lifeless next to him and finds the nearest exit by smashing out the stained glass window with the heavy statue of Utar. He grabs the box, and flees in terror, as the incoming sounds of guard's voices echo down the stairwell. Garamond slumps over and allows the residence's protectorate to take him into custody without raising so much as a finger against them.
The next morning
Eoghan, Gent, and Zodias wake up to all sorts of commotion early in the morning as some sort of bacon-scented charred form is being hauled out of the inn. Deciding to for things to die down a bit, Gent is able to check on some potions he had set to brew overnight - finding that he had successfully created a Luck Potion, and somewhat successfully created a potion of Spectre's Touch instead of the originally desired invisibility potion. Feeling that his ranger companion might need it the most, he gifts the Spectre's Touch to Eoghan. Gent also spends a few moments discerning the properties of Eoghan's newly acquired trinkets - including the magical compass which will track anyone when fed something shed from their body.
When Eoghan, Gent, and Zodias head downstairs for a traditional dwarven breakfast of oatmeal and Dwarven XXX, Rolph insists that the trio resume their search for his son post-haste. They take their breakfasts to go and search the wayward boy's old room to find a much-needed toenail. The compass swings around onto a new heading as the drop of Eoghan's blood falls out onto the floor of Jim's room. The group leaves the inn with their belongings in tow, as the chaos that travels with them likely won't see them back to their beds this evening.
Thankfully they are able to travel to Magic 'R' Us in the Arcanist district without incident, and find Justin's shop to be blissfully quiet. Gent learns the details of the ritual that will return them to the material plane - by utilizing a great source of magical power and a "key" representing the plane they wish to arrive on, the Crown of Flame may be attuned to open a portal to that plane. As the adventurers set about buying various magical knick-knacks to eat into the enormous bank-note in Gent's possession, a dull thud is heard outside of the shop. A second thud follows shortly after, and Gent suggests they leave through a back door. A third thud is accompanied by a crash, as the front of the store is smashed back into the shop by a team of 5 state wizards.
The team comes face to face with a pair of wizards guarding the back alleyway, and are quickly set upon with prepared magic. Gent slices through the air spell with surprising accuracy, and Zodias is able to severely burn that wizard. Eoghan leaps up onto a ledge in the alleyway to escape the earthen magic that ensnared Gent's feet and utilizes his newly attained nature magic to thorn whip the air mage up into the air at him. He leaps at the flying mage and pierces him through with his new sparkstone shortsword.
Gent shatters the earth spell restraining him with unexpected skill and feeds the magical energy directly back into the caster. Zodias makes quick work of the remaining foe, and the group has a few moments to collect their breath before the remaining 5 wizards will track them down.